Narcolepsy: Introduction

Narcolepsy:
Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder. Affected individuals are extremely drowsy during the daytime and may fall into a deep sleep at any time. After a short ... more about Narcolepsy.

Narcolepsy: Narcolepsy is characterized by the classic tetrad of excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, hypnagogic hallucinations, and sleep paralysis.
More detailed information about the symptoms,
causes, and treatments of Narcolepsy is available below.

Misdiagnosis and Narcolepsy

Undiagnosed stroke leads to misdiagnosed aphasia: BBC News UK reported on a man who
had been institutionalized and treated for mental illness
because he suffered from sudden inability to speak....read more »

Dementia may be a drug interaction: A common scenario in aged care is for
a patient to show mental decline to dementia.
Whereas this can, of course, occur due to...read more »

Brain pressure condition often misdiagnosed as dementia: A condition
that results from an excessive pressure of CSF within the brain is often misdiagnosed.
It may be misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease or dementia (such as ...read more »

Post-concussive brain injury often misdiagnosed: A study found that soldiers who had
suffered a concussive injury in battle often were misdiagnosed on their return.
A variety of symptoms can occur in post-concussion syndrome...read more »

Children with migraine often misdiagnosed: A migraine often fails to be
correctly diagnosed in pediatric patients.
These patients are not the typical migraine sufferers, but migraines can also occur in...read more »

Article Excerpts about Narcolepsy

Genes and Disease by the National Center for Biotechnology (Excerpt)

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder. Affected individuals are extremely drowsy during the daytime and may fall into a deep sleep at any time. After a short nap, the patient may feel refreshed, but it is only a short period of time before drowsiness returns.
(Source: Genes and Disease by the National Center for Biotechnology)

NINDS Narcolepsy Information Page: NINDS (Excerpt)

Narcolepsy is a
disabling neurological disorder of sleep regulation that affects the
control of sleep and wakefulness. It may be described as an intrusion of
the dreaming state of sleep (called REM or rapid eye movement sleep) into
the waking state.
(Source: excerpt from NINDS Narcolepsy Information Page: NINDS)

Narcolepsy: NWHIC (Excerpt)

Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder with no known cause. The main
characteristic of narcolepsy is excessive and overwhelming daytime
sleepiness, even after adequate nighttime sleep. A person with narcolepsy
is likely to become drowsy or to fall asleep, often at inappropriate times
and places. Daytime sleep attacks may occur with or without warning and
may be irresistible. These attacks can occur repeatedly in a single day.
Drowsiness may persist for prolonged periods of time. In addition,
nighttime sleep may be fragmented with frequent wakenings. (Source: excerpt from Narcolepsy: NWHIC)

A sleep disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable episodes of deep sleep; "he believes that narcolepsy is attributable to an inability to suppress REM sleep during waking"
- (Source - WordNet 2.1)

Narcolepsy is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of
Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH). This means that Narcolepsy, or a subtype of Narcolepsy,
affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
Source - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

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